quite well that the undisputed sway of the employer was not for the
ultimate good of the State. The standard of comfort must not be pitched
too low if men are to be ready to die for their country. But the moment
the Socialists began to interfere seriously with the discipline of the
Army the word went round, and the Socialists lost heavily at the polls.

If this power of predetermined reaction to acquired ideas can be
evoked successfully in a matter of internal interest only, in which the
"obvious interest" of the vast majority of the population is so clearly
on the side of the Socialist, it must be evident how enormously greater
it will prove when set in motion against an external enemy, where the
"obvious interest" of the people is, from the very nature of things, as
manifestly on the side of the Government; and the Statesman who failed
to take into account the force of the "resultant thought wave" of a
crowd of some seven million men, all trained to respond to their ruler's
call, would be guilty of treachery as grave as one who failed to strike
when he knew the Army to be ready for immediate action.

As already pointed out, it is to the spread of Clausewitz's ideas that
the present state of more or less immediate readiness for war of all
European Armies is due, and since the organisation of these forces is
uniform this "more or less" of readiness exists in precise proportion to
the sense of duty which animates the several Armies. Where the spirit of
duty and self-sacrifice is low the troops are unready and inefficient;
where, as in Prussia, these qualities, by the training of a whole
century, have become instinctive, troops really are ready to the last
button, and might be poured down upon any one of her neighbours with
such rapidity that the very first collision must suffice to ensure
ultimate success--a success by no means certain if the enemy, whoever he
may be, is allowed breathing-time in which to set his house in order.

An example will make this clearer. In 1887 Germany was on the very verge
of War with France and Russia. At that moment her superior efficiency,
the consequence of this inborn sense of duty--surely one of the highest
qualities of humanity--was so great that it is more than probable that
less than six weeks would have sufficed to bring the French to their
knees. Indeed, after the first fortnight it would have been possible
to begin transferring troops from the Rhine to the Niemen; and the same
ca